#52 Sincerely, it's been a year.

And just like that, it’s Entry #52. 52 weeks of Sincerely, Vivy. 🥳 I’m thankful for this space. Really. In a world full of noise, I love channeling my energy into this little cocoon I have built with you. It feels nicer, safer and more meaningful, if I can be really honest. While social media is a powerful arena of competing announcements, this space feels like a welcoming garden that isn’t rushed. If you’re a subscriber, I thank you for joining my space and hanging out here with me. Allowing me to document my journey for a whole year as I pick myself and my entire life back up after a big knock. And being patient with me as I myself am uncovering this journey for the first time, without any answers. If you’re a paid subscriber, know that you have contributed at my hardest time to put food on the table for my four kids and pay for necessities. At a time when our bank accounts were unfairly frozen without any warning, my writing helped build some income for our family. When it felt scary, your silent heart wanted to help me instead. I hope you will be rewarded abundantly by Allah swt and that this goes into your scale of good deeds on the Day of Judgment. I’ve never told you guys what led me to start this newsletter phase of my life, have I? It was one special night in April last year… .. that honestly didn’t feel special at all. I was on the couch aimlessly scrolling through Instagram (some good can come out of it, I guess). I follow a lot of entrepreneurial and marketing accounts, and one caught my eye. It was a carousel about goop and Gwyneth Paltrow. Not a fan if she hasn’t spoken out against the genocide, but I guess here, we give credit when it’s due. And Masyaallah, she started from a newsletter and built her brand up. It helped, of course, that she was a public figure so she had a leg up to get people to subscribe. But she took a chance and just rolled with it, and now it’s been 18 years. Cool. Ok. Moving on, next post - as we do while doomscrolling. I wanted to scroll down to the next post, but something stopped me. I found myself hanging out here for a bit. Errr why am I hanging on to this post?, I wondered. Oh…. Could this lady be me too?! I hadn’t been writing for months then since I went private on Instagram and deleted everything else. I missed writing so much but there was no safe outlet. Instagram, Twitter, Threads – so much negativity around and full of people (who don’t know me) ready to attack me. So I withdrew and was accepting that I just had to disappear. Proudduck would’ve shook her head in disappointment (and full of judgment of me). Could this then be the answer? We learn as Muslims that our Prophet s.a.w. was told to hijrah (migrate) when things got too hostile for him in Makkah – Allah swt instructed him to move to Madinah and start over. So we Muslims can take a lesson from this that sometimes, the smartest move to make… is to move. Whether it’s moving countries, or moving jobs, or moving mindsets, we need to hijrah when something isn’t working anymore. When people don’t want us there anymore, no matter how hard we try. If social media wasn’t working for me anymore because there are so many wanting to put me down (or so this was what I felt back then), why not try a new platform? Why do I have to disappear and accept people trampling all over me? Don’t fight them. Just hijrah elsewhere. In other words, try a different strategy. Newsletters… hmmm. I love to write so I was immediately excited. It was midnight and I couldn’t sleep anymore. I woke Fadza up and normally he’s my voice of reason, so when he got excited about this, I was like “OK THIS IS HAPPENING.” I started brainstorming concepts, and Fadza researched newsletter platforms. Guess when we launched? THE NEXT DAY. Hehe. Finding the name, creating the logo, creating the domains and social media account, and posting my first post? Yep, all in a few hours. It was just driven by adrenaline and excitement that this could be my new thing. I laugh when I think about this. I couldn’t believe how fast it all happened, from the Goop newsletter post to the birth of Sincerely, Vivy. Few hours. Really goes to show that Allah swt can test you, then can give you little nudges of signs, then it’s really up to you when or whether you act on them or not. Sincerely, Vivy has helped my livelihood in more ways than once. Financially yes, but also emotionally and spiritually. I get to heal for this past year, through my random entries. And with your encouragement and comments, I get excited to write consistently not just once, but twice a week. I haven’t missed a single one. KPI met! Gonna treat myself to a cake tonight. So yeah, please imagine me coming out of your screen and giving you big fat hug to say a big THANK YOU FOR EXISTING HERE. Happy one year birthday, Sincerely, Vivy! 🥳 Of course I went to my kids to tell them it’s Sincerely, Vivy’s first birthday. Daniel and Mariam just mumbled some congrats, and Idris went on eating his apple. Sarah stayed on, looking interested. “What do you mean, Mom?” she tilted her head confused. “Sincerely, Vivy. My blog. It’s her first birthday this Tuesday!” I explained to Sarah excitedly. She looked at me like I was crazy. “Mom,” she said to me slowly with an Are you ok? look. “Blogs don’t have birthdays.” How dare she. Let me know you’ve read this. Comment blogs don’t have birthdays on my latest post at @sincerelyvivy. :) See you there! :)